FIG. 27 is a perspective view of an information processing apparatus 500 and FIG. 28 is a perspective view of a communication cable unit 50. The information processing apparatus 500 is, for example, an FC (fibre channel) switch and has two input/output ports 501 in the example illustrated in FIG. 27. In the example illustrated in FIG. 27, each of the input/output ports 501 has 12 female connectors 52.
The communication cable unit 50 for connection with another apparatus is attached to each female connector 52.
As illustrated in FIG. 28, the communication cable unit 50 has a male connector 54 at end portions of communication cables 53. A description below will be given of an example in which the communication cables 53 are FC cables.
Through insertion of the male connector 54 into the female connectors 52 of the input/output port 501, the communication cable unit 50 is attached to the information processing apparatus 500.
In the communication cable unit 50 illustrated in FIG. 28, the male connector 54 is formed to serve as a DLC (Duplex LC) connector that couples two FC cables 53 in parallel. Since the shape and so on of the DLC connector are defined by, for example, a standard such as IEC 61754-20, a detailed description thereof is not given herein.
The male connector 54 has a housing 541. First ends of the paired FC cables 53 are attached to one end of the housing 541 in parallel to each other. Terminals 543 that are electrically continuous with core portions (not illustrated) of the FC cables 53 protrude from another end of the housing 541.
Two lock projections 544, which are elastic plate members, are attached to upper portions of the terminals 543 in the housing 541 in parallel to each other along the terminals 543.
The lock projections 544 are disposed with the first end portions thereof being secured to the housing 541 in a cantilever manner so as to form oblique surfaces. With this arrangement, the lock projections 544 are elastically deformed to allow up-and-down movement of second end portions 544a thereof.
FIG. 29 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the male connector 54 for the FC cables 53 is attached to the female connector 52.
The male connector 54 is inserted into a fitting hole in the female connector 52 for attachment, so that the terminals 543 are connected to terminals (not illustrated) so as to allow electrical continuity.
For insertion of the male connector 54 into the fitting hole in the female connector 52, the lock projections 544 are inserted into the fitting hole while being elastically deformed in such a manner that they are depressed by an edge portion and so on of the fitting hole and are pressed against the housing 541. The biasing that the edge portion and so apply to the lock projections 544 in the fitting hole is released at a position where the terminals 543 of the male connector 54 may be electrically continuous with the terminals in the female connector 52. Thus, the lock projections 544 move in a direction away from the housing 541, so that portions of the lock projections 544 engage in engagement holes 522 formed in the female connector 52.
As described above, since the lock projections 544 engage in the engagement holes 522 when the male connector 54 is inserted into the female connector 52, falling of the male connector 54 out of the female connector 52 is suppressed. That is, the male connector 54 is locked into the female connector 52 (this state is hereinafter referred to as a “locked state”).
For removal of the male connector 54 from the female connector 52, the end portions 544a of the lock projections 544 are depressed to cause elastic deformation of the lock projections 544. That is, the engaged lock projections 544 are removed from the engagement hole 522 in the female connector 52 to release the locked state. In the state in which the locked state is released (i.e., an unlocked state), the male connector 54 is pulled out of the fitting hole in the female connector 52.
That is, the male connector 54 and the female connector 52, together with the lock projections 544 and the engagement hole 522, realize a push-pull locking mechanism.
In the examples illustrated in FIGS. 28 and 29, a lock-release aid plate 545 is formed at upper portions of the end portions 544a of the lock projections 544 so as to cover the end portions 544a. The lock-release aid plate 545 is an elastic plate member, and one end portion thereof is secured to the housing 541 in a cantilever manner. Thus, the lock-release aid plate 545 is configured so that elastic deformation of the lock-release aid plate 545 allows up-and-down movement of another end portion 545a of the lock-release aid plate 545. The end portion 545a of the lock-release aid plate 545 is positioned so as to overlap the upper portions of the end portions 544a of the lock projections 544.
With this arrangement, upon depression of the end portion 545a of the lock-release aid plate 545, the end portions 544a of the lock projections 544 are simultaneously depressed. That is, depressing the end portion 545a of the lock-release aid plate 545 may simultaneously put the lock projections 544 into the unlocked states.
Related art is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-071888.
However, since the sizes of connectors used for FC cables are small as described above, the female connectors 52 are often densely installed in a small area of the input/output port 501 in order to miniaturize an information processing apparatus. Consequently, the upper, lower, left, and right gaps between the male connectors 54 are very small in many cases.
FIG. 30 is an enlarged perspective view of the input/output ports 501 illustrated in FIG. 27. In the example illustrated in FIG. 30, the communication cable units 50 are attached to the female connectors 52, respectively.
As illustrated in FIG. 30, when three or more female connectors 52 are vertically arranged (or when female connectors 52 are vertically arranged at three or more stages) at the input/output port 501, the upper and lower gaps of the female connectors 52 located at the middle are significantly reduced. Thus, the female connector 52 located at the middle, in particularly, has a problem in that it is very difficult for an operator to perform work for releasing the lock by depressing the lock-release aid plate 545 with his or her finger in order to remove the communication cable unit 50.
Since the lock-release aid plate 545 of the communication cable unit 50 for the FC cables is typically small and is hard to be depressed, the lock-release aid plate 545 may have to be depressed with a relatively strong force in order to release the locked state. In such a communication cable unit 50, even if other connectors are not provided above and below the male connector 54 and thus are not densely packed, there are problems in that it is difficult to for an operator to perform the work for releasing the locked state by depressing the lock-release aid plate 545 with his or her finger and thus the workability is low.